Check-row attachment for corn-planters



(No Model.)

THOMSON.

OHEOK ROW ATTACHMENT FOR CORN PLANTERS,

No. 333,699.- Patented Jan. 5, 1886.

- W512 elm'ey: 122 vefltar:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN THOMSON, OF ALEDO, ILLINOIS.

CHECK-ROW ATTAC HMENT FOR CORN-PLANTERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 333,699, dated January 5, 1886.

Application filed March 16, 1885.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN THOMSON, a citizen of the United States, residing in Aledo in the cou ntyof Mercer-and State of Illinois, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Check-Row Attachments for Corn-Planters, of which the following is a specification.

In the Letters Patent granted to me, No. 223,190, of December 30, 1879, there is shown upon each side of the machine a pair of flexibly-jointed pivoted levers, each provided with a ribbed,cam-faced clamping-plate acting in conjunction with a stationary opposing plate of like construction, these bars being operated by the knotted wire or cord, and communicating motion to the slide-bar by which the seed are discharged from the hoppers. The levers mentioned were placed longitudinally upon the machine,one pair thereof being employed when the machi'newas going in one direction and the other pair when the direction was reversed. To this construction I have found there are serious objections. In the first place the wire must be changed from one side ofthe machine to the other with each change of direction of the machine,and in the second place the clamping-plates soon wear out and become useless.

To obviate these objections and otherwise improve the construction and operation of the machine is the object of my present invention, in which I employ similarly flexibly joint-ed pivoted levers to actuate the dropping device, but I employ only a single pair and place them transversely in the machine, so that they may be used whichever way the machine is drawn; and the knotted wire is caused to actuate these levers by passing it between opposing rollers or pulleys whereof one of each pair is stationary and the other is mounted upon the levers. In this manner I obviate the objections to my previous invention, as the rollers turn by the friction of the rower-cord and do not therefore wear out, and operate in the same way regardless of the direction from which the wire approaches them. These and other details of my new machine will be more fully understood from the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a plan view showing thejointed levers in one position. Fig. 2 is a similar iew showing the levers in their reversed po- Serial No. 159,039. (No model.)

sition. Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the machine. Fig. 4is a section upon line 4 4.. Fig. 5 is a like section upon line 5 5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 shows the improved anchoring device which I use in connection with my machine.

In said drawings, A A represent the runners; B B, the hoppers, and O the transverse brace connecting the runners. Upon the hoppers orotherwise supported from the runners is a transverse beam, D. This beam is provided at each end witi a pair of sheaves, d, and a retaining or guide piece, d, covering the space between the sheaves. Adjacent to these sheaves is another pair of guidingsheaves, d placed diagonally upon the beam and provided with a cap, d serving to oonfine the rower-cord.

E E are levers, each pivoted at e to the beam D, and flexibly jointed together at their adjacent ends, as shown at e. carry at their outer ends pulleys F F, respectively, the peripheries of which are raised at the middle. Opposing these pulleys are stat-ionarily-grooved pulleys F F, supported from the beam D. The cord G is passed first between the sheaves d and d thence between one pair of pulleys, F and F thence between the other pair of p ulle'ys, Fand F and sheaves d and d. At the joint 6' of the levers E E is secured an arm, 6', which is pivotally joined to a crank, 6 upon the shaft 0, confined in the bearing e attached to beam D. Another crank, e, is connected to the shaft e, and is also connected by the link 6 to the dropperbar H. These cranks and their shaft may be formed in one piece, and the attachments thereto of the arm c and connecting link e may be adjustable, as shown, so that the extent of the throw communicated to the bar H may be changed at will.

These levers tially as follows: WVhen the machine is advancing, the cord is attached to anchoring-stakes I at each side of the field, one being shown in the drawings. These stakes I make of flat metal having some spring, and I place them in the ground with their fiat side to the field, the cord being secured in the slit 2', formed in the turned-over top. When made in this way, the stakes are adapted to yield to the cord somewhat when the latter is caught in the machine, and to pull out easily when the machine ICO is turned around. As the machine is drawn forward in the direction indicated, the knobs 9 upon the rower-cord enter the machine from the right, and first come in contact with the rollers F F, such contact resulting in forcing said roller F away from its mate. Motion is thus given to both levers, and through the intervening cranks, shaft, and link to the dropper-bar H. As the motion of the machine continues, the same knobs pass between the rollers F F, (which are brought together by the opening of the rollers F Ft) and separate those rollers in turn. This results in a reversal of the first impulse given to bar H. These operations continue to be repeated so long as the machine moves forward in this direction. \Vhen the edge of the field is reached, the driver turns his machine, which results in the loosening, if not the entire withdrawal, of the stake I, because in the act of turning the machine an edgewise pull is exerted upon the stake. It is now only necessary to reset the stake and the machine is ready to proceed in the opposite direction, in which movement of course the pulleys F F first receive the knots upon the cord.

vWith my invention the operator is only obliged to dismount when it is necessary to reset the stakes, and the wire does not require to be'taken off the machine until the piece or field is finished, but changes from front to rear and rear to front in the act of turning, the sheaves d (shown in Fig. 2 with the cap (1 re moved) allowing it to enter the machine equally well, from either direction. This feature of my invention may be employed upon any rower wherein the levers are operated by the wire in whichever direction it may be passing through the machine. The wire also acts equally well and in the same manner upon the levers regardless of the direction in which it moves, by reason of the substitution of the opposing pulleys between which it passes, for the devices heretofore used for the same purpose.

I claim- 1. In a check-rower attachment, the combination, with the wire and the levers actuated thereby, of pulleys mounted upon said levers and opposing stationary pulleys, substantially as specified.

2. The combination, in a check-rower attachment, of the flexibly-jointed pivoted levers E E, carrying pulleys F F, and the pulleys F and F opposing said pulleys F F, substantially as specified.

3. In a check-rower attachment, the combination, with the dropping device H, of the flexibly jointed pivoted levers, the pulleys whereby said levers are actuated, and the intervening mechanism by which the movement of the levers is carried to the dropper, substantially as specified.

4. The combination, with the dropper device H, of a single pair of flexibly-jointed pivoted levers placed transversely of the machine, sheaves for guiding the wire at each side of the machine and alike in both directions, pulleys for actuating said levers, and mechanism for transferring the movement of the levers to said dropper, substantially as specified.

5. The combination, with the levers'E E andtheir actuating pulleys, ofguidingsheaves at each side of .the machine, adapted to guide the wire alike from either direction, substantially as specified.

JOHN THOMSON.

Witnesses:

W. MoK. YOUNG, JOSEPH MoKEE. 

